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Fears remain about missing homeless in Boulder County following flood

By Joe Rubino and Mitchell Byars Camera Staff Writers

Posted:
09/22/2013 05:06:05 PM MDT

Updated:
09/23/2013 10:55:53 AM MDT

CJ, at left, expresses her gratitude Friday to Ariana who offered her a place to stay for the night in Boulder during the flooding. Many campsites used by the homeless population in Boulder Canyon have been washed away.
(Mark Leffingwell)

When Boulder Creek began to swell with floodwater on the evening of Sept. 11, Leroy Farias and his girlfriend were camping out in their usual spot under the bridge where the Boulder Creek passes under Arapahoe Avenue near Central Park.

Farias, who has lived on the streets of Boulder for the past 14 years, said when the water started rising they got out of there as quickly as possible.

"I took my old lady out without any shoes," Farias said. "She walked for two days without any shoes. I lost everything. Three backpacks, four sleeping bags. I had no gear. No jacket."

The couple took cover with about 20 other homeless people at the Central Park bandshell that night, Farias said, and have been using the structure's limited shelter every night since.

Farias on Friday said he was grateful he and his friends lived through the flood. He said of the 30 or so homeless people he personally knows in Boulder, all of them are safe. He's not sure everyone was so lucky.

"The good thing is we survived. We're still here," he said.

When asked if he thought there were other homeless people around Boulder County who might still be missing as a result of the flood, he said "I believe so."

Boulder County officials last week announced the number of people still unaccounted for in Boulder County was zero. But that number does not take into account some of the homeless population who may not have had anyone report them missing to authorities.

Boulder Sheriff Joe Pelle said there is not a reliable way to know if homeless people are missing without friends or family to alert authorities. For that reason, he said, search and rescue crews continue to comb every portion of the flood-ravaged areas in case bodies are found.

"(The homeless) are not factored in, but what is factored in is a complete search of affected drainage areas to make sure we don't have more fatalities," Pelle said. "We were bracing for 100 fatalities, now it's four and that is amazing and wonderful, but it doesn't mean there wasn't someone who was sleeping under a bridge or near the river we won't eventually find."

Pelle said, for the most part, search and rescue crews have searched the mountain areas, though he said there are still some places in the eastern part of the county where floodwaters are still high.

"We're optimistic though that we've covered the drainages, homes, damaged structures and debris piles up in the mountains," he said. "The bigger question is out east."

Like Farias, many of the people in Central Park Friday had harrowing stories of their experiences during the flood.

Thomas Cox, who said he has been homeless on and off for 30 years, shares an apartment with his brother in Lyons and was among many people who were stranded in the devastated town until the National Guard evacuated them last week. While everyone he knows he is accounted for, he said he is sure some of the local homeless population simply left Boulder County when things got bad.

"They might have left town," Cox said. "They didn't take time to get to FEMA or any of that. They just split."

Many of the campsites used by the homeless in Boulder Canyon and elsewhere around the county were wiped out during the flood, forcing many to go to emergency shelters, or camp out in the city where they run the risk of being ticketed for illegal camping.

"The cops have been pretty cool, but last night we got camping tickets," Farias said Friday.

Homeless people were turned away from some Boulder emergency shelters on Sept. 12, according to officials with the Red Cross. The organizations said that action was against its policies and would not happen again.

For the past six months, Bridge House executive director Isabel McDevitt has been working with city and county officials and service providers to develop an emergency response system to protect Boulder's homeless population.

As of Friday, she said she was not aware of any of the Bridge House's homeless clients that were missing.

"There are definitely fears, but none of those fears have been realized," she said. "Many of the people we had concerns about have turned up over the last week."

While they may not have family, McDevitt said the homeless community in Boulder is very close, making it easier to figure out if someone has gone missing.

"The homeless community, the people who have resided in Boulder for a long time, it's a very tight-knit group of people, so the grapevine is the primary method of communication," she said. "We expect we would have heard if someone was lost."

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